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CD Release: “Feels Like Home”, The Celtic Tenors ★★★★

Feels Like Home will press every romantic button you’ve got for just about anything – about home. Through a collection of 13 songs, The Celtic Tenors take a harmonically gorgeous trip back to where home is, and that’s usually where the heart is. Feels Like Home aims straight for the heart. The lyrics of Track 1, Going Home, begin – “They say there’s a place where dreams have all gone. They never said where, but I think I know. It’s miles through the night, just over the dawn, on the road that will take me home.” Along the way, a guy can get distracted. Like, with Red Haired Mary. Off to be getting her sweet self married she was.

Click on the cover to order on-line:Daryl Simpson – Matthew Gilsenan – James Nelson

Barely a decade into the 21st century, the world often feels like an uncertain place. Look at any news headline from just about any continent, and the old notions of security, economic and political stability and cultural harmony all seem to be up for grabs. In Ireland and the surrounding Celtic countries, the outlook is no different, according to Matthew Gilsenan, founding vocalist for the Celtic Tenors, the three-man vocal group that also includes James Nelson and Daryl Simpson. The trio has been weaving together an eclectic repertoire of Celtic, operatic and popular songs for audiences worldwide since 2000. While some of the culture clashes of decades past may have been smoothed over in recent years, “the global financial crisis has put Ireland in difficult straits,” says Gilsenan. “The banks are struggling, and life there has become very difficult.”

In response, the Celtic Tenors have crafted Feels Like Home, celebrating the uplifting music of Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales, while borrowing a few songs from other cultures along the way. The songs are traditional and contemporary, but all of them serve as a reminder that the world is still a hopeful place.

The Tenors themselves are living proof of that hope, says Simpson. “Matthew’s a Catholic from the southern part of Ireland, Nelson is a southern Protestant and I’m a Protestant from the north. As little as a generation ago, the idea of people from these three differing backgrounds and cultures performing together on the same stage would have been unheard of.”

The tenors are joined by some of the most prestigious musical talent in Ireland. Their core musical accompaniment consists of producer and multi-instrumentalist Martin Quinn, pianists Colm Henry and Gavin Murphy (Murphy is also the orchestral arranger), and drummer /percussionist Andrew Quinn. John O’Brien plays pipes and whistles on several tracks. Also on hand is the Radio Teilifis Erin (RTE) Concert Orchestra (Ireland’s premier orchestra) and the Omagh Community Youth Choir. The Omagh Choir was founded in the late 1990s by Simpson in response to a 1998 car bombing by an IRA splinter group called the Real IRA in Omagh, in Northern Ireland. The bombing killed 31 people and injured hundreds of others. This commitment to harmony in the midst of discord is what underscores and inspires the recording.

The set opens with Going Home, a poignant ballad written by folk singer-songwriter Mary Fahl. “She’s not even Irish,” Gilsenan notes. “She’s American, and she’s big in the folk scene in the United States. But the song feels very Celtic, and much of America claims Celtic ancestry. It’s probably the biggest Celtic nation other than the UK. Just look at the number of American presidents of Celtic lineage.”

The spirited followup track, Red Haired Mary, is “a little bit wild, and a little bit irreverent,” says Simpson. “It’s a real Irish song. It’s not Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ra. It tells the story of a cheeky half-drunk Irishman who gets in a brawl with a tinker man. It’s a fun song.”

No Frontiers is a defiantly hopeful ballad written by Irish songwriter Jimmy McCarthy, whom Gilsenan calls “the Bob Dylan of Ireland.” That’s a song that is loved by everyone in Ireland,” he says. “It’s not given to much attention in the U.S. That’s one of the reasons why we chose to record it. It came out really. I consider it one of the highlights of the entire record.”

Track 5, Silent Night, is a song by Yusef Islam (formerly known as Cat Stevens) with lyrics full of optimistic imagery signifying youth, rebirth and new beginnings. “We just happened to come across him in a studio in London a while back,” says James Nelson. “We sang a traditional song in our native tongue for him. He loved our harmonies and suggested this gem of a song to us. We fell in love with it immediately. There was something very positive about it.”

The rousing title track comes from the canon of Randy Newman – admittedly an unlikely candidate for a Celtic recording, but “it just seemed right,” says Simpson. “It works on many levels. We were drawn by the resonance of home and its place in our own loves. We spend a lot of time on the road, touring the world, and singing this song just seems to bring home just a little closer.”

Better, Track 7, is gentle and heartfelt, featuring a solo performance by Simpson, backed by the Omagh Community Youth Choir. “This is such a relevant song for Daryl,” says Gilsenan. “On the face of it, it’s a song about a relationship between a man and a woman. But it’s an allegory for Northern Ireland, and the idea that cultural understanding is getting better and better.”

The Tenors’ emotional rendition of Richard Thompson’s Dimming of the Day is enhanced by an intimate arrangement that includes a string quartet and piano. Dimming is followed by the beautiful Welsh lullaby Suo Gan, which ultimately segues into the rousing closer, Westering Home, A song whose origins span two Celtic countries. “It’s a very famous Scottish song, which is based on an Irish song called Trasna Na dTtonnta, which means “Over the Waves”, says Gilsenan. “It illustrates that there’s a very fuzzy line between what’s Scottish and what’s Irish. James and I learned the Irish version in school, while Daryl learned it as “Westering Home”. We recorded it here with the Scottish lyrics, but we could just as easily superimpose the Irish words if we wanted to.”

This kind of musical and cultural crossover is what Feels Like Home is ultimately about. “We do 150 to 200 shows every year – primarily in the U.S. and Canada, but in other parts of the world as well,” says Nelson. “We cross a lot of borders when we travel, but we find that people all over the world are similar in many ways. Almost everyone is open to good music and an uplifting message. We have so many great fans around the world. This album is, in part, for them.”

Seán MartinfieldSentinel Editor and Publisher
Seán Martinfield, who also serves as Fine Arts Critic, is a native San Franciscan. He is a Theatre Arts Graduate from San Francisco State University, a professional singer, and well-known private vocal coach to Bay Area actors and singers of all ages and persuasions. His clients have appeared in Broadway National Tours including Wicked, Aïda, Miss Saigon, Rent, Bye Bye Birdie, in theatres and cabarets throughout the Bay Area, and are regularly featured in major City events including Diva Fest, Gay Pride, and Halloween In The Castro. As an Internet consultant in vocal development and audition preparation he has published thousands of responses to those seeking his advice concerning singing techniques, professional and academic auditions, and careers in the Performing Arts. Mr. Martinfield’s Broadway clients have all profited from his vocal methodology, “The Belter’s Method”. If you want answers about your vocal technique, post him a question on AllExperts.com. If you would like to build up your vocal performance chops and participate in the Bay Area’s rich theatrical scene, e-mail him at: sean.martinfield@comcast.net.

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